Mark Wilson

I went to the Museum of Science and Industry over the weekend and this
little guy crawled up my leg while I was waiting for the bus outside
the museum. It was NOT easy getting close enough with my standard
lens, and took me a few tries to get it in focus.
I would have submitted the ones of him crawling up my leg, but the
focus wasn't right.
-Hank Eisenstein

Equipment Used: iPhone 4
It was a beautiful day outside, I'm not professional but I do enjoy taking a good picture. I was in our backyard playing with my new iPhone 4. We have several colorful plants surrounding our pond my friend and I made 4 years ago. I wanted to get a few pictures of the Koi fish swimming around and I noticed this butterfly that was perched on a flower. The butterfly let me take several shots without moving. This was the best shot I took of my first wildlife subject. My girlfriend thinks i'm lame for taking pictures of a butterfly but enjoy taking pictures that others will enjoy.
-Daniel Panetta

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Nice sized praying mantis was on my deck... grabbed my crummy Sony point
and shoot and got real close. He didn't even flinch. I ended up moving him
to the yard and about 10 minutes later, he was back up on the deck! Weird
little dude...
Sorry, can't remember my camera model and I didn't really use any settings,
just got close and snapped a few shots off...
-Spencer Venard

Shot with a five-year-old LG VX 9800 cell phone (1.3 megapixels) on
macro setting.
A queen bee was just walking around outside my garage and allowed me
to get really close.
The cell phone was about 2 inches away when I took this picture.
-David

Shot on a 3GS.
-Jeremiah Sorensen

Taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ50 using macro focus.
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f3.6
ISO: 100
This little guy was about the size of my pinky fingernail! He/she caused me to start cutting grass about 15 minutes later than I wanted to. I saw him and said to myself "OMG, CAMERA NOW!". I grabbed the camera and positioned the camera about an inch away from him. Snap, here he is.
-Wayne Bonnett

This was shot in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. There is a small botanical garden with beautiful flowers and lots of critters on them.
This was shot with a Canon 5d Mark 2 with a Canon EF100mm Macro lens. 1/100 @ f/14 ISO 200
-Oleg Volkov

Canon Canon PowerShot S5 IS
1/800 sec
f/4.0
ISO 80
Focal Length 6.0 mm
This guy was flying all around the driveway with me close behind trying to snap up pictures. Finally it landed on the antenna of the car and I was about to get some shots. I especially like the additional bug parts on the end of the antenna that were not related to the primary subject.
-Michael Hasenstab

Shot with Hitachi HDC1296E at a bus stop while waiting for a bus.
Image cropped and colour corrected (the Hitachi has bad colour definition in my opinion) in Photoshop.
I took multiple shots in macro mode until I got the focus and composition I liked.
-Leigh Hoyte

This picture was shot while walking on campus at the university of Mzuzu in Malawi. There was a train of about 20 caterpillars, head to bottom, inching across the road.
Taken with Nikon D90
ISO 400
105 mm
f 5.6
1/250 sec
-Michael Heuchert

Camera used Nikon D50 Lens Nikkor 55-200mm 55.0-200.0 mm f/4.0-5.6
Exposure: 1/125 sec at f/5.6
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
A regular day back yard hunting with my dogs and we had an old trash can that had not been turned upright in a few months. Not knowing of the dangers inside I found that a potential killer has made a home out of my waste basket. There were five in all, one large female, a male (dead of course) and 3 smaller females. Sad to say that the black widow had to die for the safety of my dogs. I look to take more back yard safaris with my pets.
-White Phillip

This picture was taken while I was spending some time with friends,we all decided to make a trip to a nearby lake and spend some time together in celebration of summer. Well of course my camera had to join us,so i brought Monroe (name of camera)along.We were walking around and I found this garden filled with flowers and I came across this butterfly you see in the picture .. now i was not prepared to take a photo .. so you see me leaping and lurking around with a 18-55mm lense to get this shot of the butterfly that wouldn't stop moving. Unfortunatly, there were bees swarming everywhere but I still managed to ignore their buzzing and flying past me.All in all all that was worth the photo.:)
-Sarah Abaza

Camera: EOS 550D
lens: reverse portrait lens with smallest diafragma.
Other: Iso 100, Flash.
A bug was sitting on the other side of the window while I was watching tv and i just had to make this photo.
I had to close the flash a bit to avoid reflection of the window and to avoid too much brightness.
The macrolens was about 30 euros and there is a part between the lens and the camera to make it fit.
Also the lens has no automatic zoom, because it's in reverse.
-Mathijs Rozemuller

Canon Rebel T2i
Lens EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
f/5
1/4000
iso 3200
exp. +3
Focal lenth 123mm
went outside and saw a couple of bees just hoovering over the grass, ran and got the camera and stood on the grass waiting for him to get in frame, took about 25 shoots to get a good one.... had to use the manual focus though cause i could not keep him on the red focus dot and it would focus fast enough anyways
-Aaron Dasaro

Sony DSLR-A330
F-stop f5.6
ISO 400
-erik von Oy

I was standing at the grill cooking up some burgers when I happened to see this deer fly
land with another fly in his grip. So I did what I always do, I ran in and grabbed the closest camera, threw on the 50mm macro and grabbed the tripod! Shot info below.
The shot was taken with an Olympus E-520 and the Zuiko Digital 50mm f/2 macro. Aperture was set at 7.1 so I could get a decent focal plane. ISO was at 100. Not post processing.
Oh...and I got this shot and DID NOT burn the burgers! So everyone, fly included enjoyed a nice dinner!!
-Jamie A. MacDonald

I was up on the Wyler Aerial Tramway and my sons happened to see this caterpiller on one of the decks. All I had was my Blackberry Curve 8900 so I snapped a pic.
-John Rust

I was sitting by a lake in the French Alps with these bugs flying around so I grabbed my camera (Canon 40d, Canon 70-200mm usm lens) put it on a fast shutter speed (1/2000) and a high ISO (1000) and started trying to capture one. There was no real technique except some sort of panning I guess, this was the first photo I took after about 30 seconds of trying. After another 20 minutes, I hadn't got a better one!
-Joe Cook

Well this is a Stick insect (phasmatodea) that lives on a rosebush outside my bedroom window.
I named him Barry. He doesnt do much.. Just kinda lurks. i've seen him stay in the same spot for up to 2 weeks at a time. I took the pic using a Samsung ST500 basically on full auto in macro mode. It was mid morning on a rare sunny day (I live in Wellington, New Zealand, not the sunniest place in N.Z.).
He actually measures around 14cm from feeers to tail so he's one of the bigger ones I've seen. I tried many ways to get a well-focused full body shot but nothing really worked so this shot of his head was the best approach.
-Bruce Jamieson

"Argiope aurantia"
Used a D40 with 75-200mm Nikkor VR lens on no-flash and manual focus.
As a biologist and avid wildlife photographer (mainly invertebrates, specializing in Odonates—dragonflies and damselflies), I shot this on the path to a favorite pond dwelling for dragonflies here in Birmingham, Alabama. This female garden spider—Argiope aurantia (also known as a banana spider)—was amongst a patch of lilly fronds. It took 15 minutes or so of crouching on top of a stone wall and waiting for the wind to calm to capture this photo.
-Tim Tapscott

Equipment Used: Olympus Stylus u740 point-and-shoot in Macro Mode, ISO 80, Flash Off, auto everything else (no custom controls)
I was at my grandparents' house and they had a hummingbird feeder but there were a horde of bees just attacking all the hummingbirds and taking the sugar water and I thought, "This would make a beastly shot." I'm into Macro photography despite not having a good camera to shoot with, but I'm proud of how this came out.
-Thiago Fernandes

Every Saturday I clean my beautiful apartment and the worse part of it is to clean the balcony under the hot Israeli sun, so while I was cleaning the dust and sweating I spotted those 2 bugs , They were standing over the balcony joint together and when I came closer I understand that they were having way more fun than I am...
Although I was tired after cleaning, those 2 bugs "inspired" me, So me and my girlfriend had a lot of fun that night. but this I won't tell (use your imagination)
My gear: Canon SD870 IS , Macro mode in black & white, no other smart settings.
-Uri Zomer

Shot Location: Lenox, MA (Kripalu Yoga Center)
Equipment: Canon t2i with 18-55mm lens
I've never owned a DSLR camera and purchased the Canon t2i after reading Gizmodo's review (I'm serious!). After reading the words "This Should Be Your First DSLR" I was ready to head for B&H. Of course, the new t2i is hard to track down, so I didn't get the camera until this past Thursday, just in time to take it with me for my Fourth of July weekend in the Berkshires. This was one of the first 100 photos I took with the camera, and I got really excited with the results (still think I'd like a macro lens though).
Kripalu, if you are not familiar with it, is a beautiful yoga center surrounded by woods and nature. The flowers and animals there were phenomenal subjects for my first venture out with the Canon.
-Ryan Oakes

Camera Maker: Canon PowerShot A590 IS
F-stop : f/4
Exposure: 1/400 sec.
Iso: ISO-80
Focal Length: 6mm
I'm currently studying abroad in Costa Rica, and saw this dragonfly during my Biodiversity class at UniversidadLatina. I saw this little fella land right on a leaf and took this picture right before it flew off!
-Johnny Sanvichith

Was actually going to shoot a Gator in the Everglades but this little bugger got in the way of the shot. So, I focused on it instead.
Camera: Canon Rebel T2i
Lens: EFS 55-250mm F/4-5.6 IS
Shooting Mode: Manual
F-Stop: f/5.6
Shutter: 320/sec
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 194mm
-Mike Fernandez

Its the shoot taken at when we stop at an winery
Its taken with Nikon D5000
with Nikon 55-200 lens
-Sathish kumar

Just recently bought a new wide angle lends. Being a nice warm and sunny day. I went out for a nice long walk with the girlfriend. In the woods we where being attacked left and right by moskitos. On one of the trees, on our way back we saw this bright yellow Bug. Not really sure what type of bug it was. But I soon realised that the wide angle could be unscrewed to become a macro lends.
-Ian Hernandez

This is my submission for the bugs competition. I used a Nikon D5000 with an AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D macro lens at ISO 280 and f/5.6. Not only is this the first photo I've ever submitted to any photo competition, it's also probably the first macro photo I've ever taken and I had to borrow the lens as I don't own one myself. After seeing how great (in my opinion - although obviously there are certain things that could be better e.g. angle and detail) this photo turned out I'm definitely going to invest in a macro lens for more bug related fun! Not much of a story behind it - I just decided to try the lens out and voila, a nice insect in the garden on display for me! I hope you guys like it!
-Dmitry Lapidus

This picture was taken with a 45mm film Canon Eos Rebel Ti; a Sigma 70-300mm Lens (in macro mode). Film stock was 200 speed Fuji Superia, with an F/5.6, ISO at 200 and the Shutter Set for about 1/400s. It required about 14 shots, 5 bees and patience until this one was achieived. Of course this was before digital SLR's arrived, so I almost went through an entire roll of film to get this one shot.
-Paul Valenzuela

I shot this with my Canon Powershot SX210 IS point and shoot on manual at 1/250s, f/4.0, and ISO 80. I cropped the picture and fixed the exposure on Photoshop CS3.
I was sitting in my room and saw a couple bees flying around below my window so I grabbed my camera and went out to the front yard. Because of the sun I couldn't see the screen at all so I was basically shooting blindly, but luckily I did capture a bee.
-Kevin Kuo

Canon EOS Rebel T2i
EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS (Kit Lens)
ISO 200
I just got my first DSLR in the mail today, and having loved taking photos of bugs with my Point and Shoot in the past, I decided to see how this new camera compared (Thanks for steering me towards the T2i, Gizmodo!). I spotted this wasp out of the corner of my eye while trying to shoot a mockingbird that had landed in my backyard. At first I was hesitant to get close, because I got stung a few days earlier, but then I saw that it was munching on something and couldn't waste the shot.
-Devin Montes

Nikon D300, Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 lens, Aperature Priority f/20, Flash +0.7
stop
The Story: I brought this jumping spider home from work to photograph it.
Eventually I put him on one of my paintings and tried to get a good shot. I
noticed that he'd go toward the light of my book light which I was using as a
light source. So I kept moving the light from one side to the other of my
painting every 3-4 seconds to get him to run across it. It took about 10
minutes to finally get this shot.
I hope I win.
-Eric Cabebe

Shot with a SONY dsc-t50, 1/125 sec, f 5.6. its a horsefly, was on my door and i grabbed my camera with a lens taped to it to take extreme macro shots.
-Ryan Francis

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD880 IS
Digital Macro Mode
ISO: 80
Fstop: 2.8
Exposure: 1/250
Story: Well, we were wandering around The Cloisters during this hot week. I saw this guy on a flower and remembered the challenge. I would've had my DSLR, but the battery was dead, but it was for the best I guess?
-Charlie Beck

This was shot with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS set to 1/500, f/8, ISO
200 using the Canon telephoto 300mm lens.
For this shot, I was walking along a creek in rural Virginia and saw
this massive bug land on a branch. Luckily, I had the perfect lens to
keep from frightening it while capturing him in detail with the
telephoto. The distance between the bug in focus and the grass and
plants behind gives a great bokeh effect that isolates the subject
nicely, which can be a fine alternative to a macro lens.
-Adam Long

Got a bit of a three-for-one in this shot, not only is there a spider (after some web searching, the spider is a type of crab spider, Misumena vatia "flower spider") munching on a horse fly, head first (the fly was still alive too!), but there is also a chrysalis of some kind of moth or it could also be the spiders egg sac. The lighting wasn't the greatest, but I think it turned out not too bad.
The photo was taken in North Bay, ON Canada around 6 pm.
Camera: Sony DSC-700 point and shoot
Mode: auto, macro
ISO: 100
Exp time: 1/500 sec
Focal Length: 6mm
F-stop: f/2.8
-Chad Lalande

Camera: Panasonic Lumix DCM-TZ15 point and shoot.
ISO: No idea - I pointed and shot!
Setting: Standard scenery setting that I just used to take photo of nearby lake and hills.
Saw this little dude walking along, and had no time to find a setting or even turn on macro.
I quickly pointed the camera at the leaf in bottom right, half pressed the shutter button to lock focus on it then aimed at the ant while moving back about an inch so the ant was in focus and took the shot.
Not sure how to do a manual focus with this camera (been meaning to look in manual to see if it's possible).
Ecstatic I actually got the focus effect I wanted.
Photo taken walking through the bush in Australia
My speciality is sculpture, certainly not photography.
-Marty Dolan

My name is Chris Thurston and this is my submission for the bug photo contest!!!!!!!!!!!
-Chris Thurston

Nikon D200
Nikon SB600 fired overhead at 45 degrees
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8
1/2500 sec
f/2.9
ISO 400
Bees are a touchy subject for me because I am deathly allergic to them. So I opted for my 70-200mm for this shot. I wanted to be as far as possible yet, capture an excellent, soft focused shot.
I went outside, plopped down on the grass and waited for a lovely bee to come by. Within moments, there was a swarm in front of me. I snapped about 25 pictures and I promptly left.
Image edited in RAW in Lightroom, adjusted curves and levels in Photoshop. Done.
-Phil Sieradzan

I was walking around the West Portal area of San Francisco (where I live) and went out taking flower pictures. This area has a lot of flower gardens with many varieties, shapes and colors. They were all coming into bloom at once and I spent a few hours walking and ended up shooting about 200 pictures.
I was evaluating a 100mm macro lens and took a lot of close up pictures. In particular, I was after flowers with insects. While I was walking by a lavender plant next to the West Portal Muni station and noticed a bee flying around. After some trial and error, I managed to get close enough for a steady shot, and ended up catching it with its tounge sticking out.
The picture was taken on a Canon XSi with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens, 1/250 second, f/5, ISO 200.
In the end I didn't purchase the lens, but it was fun trying it out.
-Erik

This picture was snapped outside at the pool at my Mother's, there's a tree where the moths/butterflies (not sure) lay their eggs inside the seed pods for the tree and every year about this time they drop off and crawl around to find somewhere to cocoon. It was hanging off the edge of the flower tray. This is one of the first images I took with my new 50D.
Canon 50D with Canon EF 28-135mm at f/10 1600 ISO and 1/500 shutter speed on 'M' settings.
-Jonathan Harrop

I took this picture outside my house shortly after I got my new Canon 50D for high-school graduation (off to MIT next year). I shot the pic with a Canon 85mm f1.8 lens. The lens conveniently has an ultrasonic motor drive so I was able to manually adjust focus after getting a rough autofocus on the bee. The bee occasionally hovered, giving me a brief window to focus and snap a pic. The EXIF data is f2.5, 85mm, and 1/4000 second shutter speed.
-Jared Katz

iPhone 3GS
Took outside of a building. It was HUGE!
-Chad Shelby

I took this shot at The Highline Park in Manhattan last week and it turned out pretty good. The Highline is such an amazing place – I love going there and I'm stoked that they are expanding it.
The shot was taken with a Nikon D700 with a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at f/5.6 and 70mm. I took 5 shots in an HDR bracket, combined them in Photoshop CS5, then lightly tonemapped it with Photomatix Pro.
-Ryan Vereen

iPhone 4. Was taking a couple of snap shots of the Coit Tower. Upon browsing through them I realized some damn butterfly had photobombed me in one of them. It was noon, so the light really glows through its wings.
-Mark Farinas

Shot Settings: Olympus E-520 with Zuiko 14-42mm lens in Standard Macro Mode full auto
Storyline: Well, quite simply, I was just wandering around Royal Oak, Michigan looking for.... bees? Luckily I explored the right flowers and this young flying fellow appeared on this delightfully colorful flower in front of the library. Patience is alllways the key!
-Tyler Besh